On 12th September 1951 this No.101 Flying Refresher School aircraft was being flown on a training flight that involved the aircraft being put into deliberate stalls and spins to enable the pupil to practice recovering from such an attitude. The pupil succesfully made two stalls and spins from which he regained control. After around thirty minutes from take off he put the aircraft into a third stall and spin but could not regain control. A brief period of confusion around who then had control of the aircraft the ensued and while the instructor attempted to briefly regain control he then made the decision they should both abandon the aircraft. The pupil abandoned the aircraft but the instructor was in the process of abandoning it when he was thrown out, he struck his right thigh on part of the aircraft as he fell out. The aircraft crashed in a field near the hamlet of Gribthorpe at 14.20hrs, around a mile north of Spaldington. Both pilots landed near the aircraft but both parachutes were damaged in the descent. The most serious damage was to the instructors which was seen to be damaged by the pupil as both men were in the descent. This damage was believed to have occurred either because the speed at which they opened them was too great for the material and stitching to handle or that the speed over which nylon cords ran over the nylon material caused friction heat which burnt the material.
Pilot Instructor - Sgt Thomas Cairney McInally RAF (1568900). Slightly injured.
Pilot Pupil - F/O Walter Kenneth John Kane RAF (180358).
Historians Ken Reast, Eric Barton and Albert Pritchard located small remains at the crash site with permission from the landowner in 2003 to confirm the location. These photographs show small fragments retained by Eric, one of which shows various Harvard part numbers and markings after a liberal use of his hammer to flatten it.
